22 – 27 August 2016 | 19 – 24 Dhu al-Qa’da 1437 H

5 – 11 pm

Riyadh International Conventions and Exhibitions Center

Attending the events does not require advance registration

About Hakaya Misk

Hakaya Misk Festival focuses on content creation driven by cultural and educational values to motivate youth to express their ideas through four creative sections. These are:

The Writing Lab offers workshops and seminars in writing styles and techniques, such as literature, screen plays, media content, and science fiction.
The Art Squares are focused on techniques for drawing characters and cartoons, and other graphic arts. The Animation Factory specializes in the creation of animation content, the art of animation, dubbing and voice acting. And finally, the Production Studio focuses on directing, photography and requirements of long and short film-making. The Festival designed these four sections in a creative way, offering workshops by a number of locally and globally accredited agencies, organizations and individuals, as well as special seminars on the platform of each section. These seminars will be presented by industry professionals and prominent figures in these fields These are accompanied by theatrical performances, Hakaya Youth, the young author’s section, the Hakaya market and the Hakaya Tech section.

Goals of Hakaya Misk

Discovering the creative talents of Saudi youth and helping develop and showcase them.

Reviving and digitally reproducing spoken heritage to make it accessible across generations.

Introducing youth to investment and business opportunities in the creative fields.

Creating value-driven, meaningful entertainment content.

Showcasing local and international storytelling heritage.

Helping youth acquire skills and experience through communicating and interacting with industry professionals.

Target Group

Special Features

Individuality

Bringing together our traditional stories embodying a wealth of principles and values, with modern storytelling methods and techniques is one of the key features that is unique to Misk Tales. The Festival brings together a range of ways and techniques of presenting historical and heritage tales, starting with traditional ways such as the Rawi and the Hakawati (traditional storytellers), to the latest method in electronic and technical storytelling such audio stories and animation.

Priority

Our society has a sustained need and demand for entities specialized in teaching young people and training them in how to infuse history and social values in a practical way into animation and stories using modern media technology. The goal is to produce media content that is modern and authentic at the same time, and Misk Tales has the priority in seeking to achieve this ambition.

Specialization

Combining the values of education and training in a festival where most of the programs are entertaining and interactive is a specialized element unique to Hakaya Misk, especially since all its activities were designed by specialists with global expertise, in order to have a clear vision and goals.

Qualification

The Hakaya Misk Festival offers a number of workshops on writing, drawing comics, animation, producing and directing, with each workshop representing a specific stop along the production journey of this important industry. The Festival aims for people attending the workshops to emerge with a solid knowledge base in this area as well as key techniques enabling them to refine this knowledge through ongoing practice.

Activities

Writing Lab

This is where young people can come to unleash their writing creativity. The Lab allows them to communicate and participate in interactive exhibits featuring prominent writing professionals, and includes a writer’s platform allowing speakers to interact directly with visitors. The Writing Lab also offers workshops and seminars on writing styles and tools, such as literature, screen plays, media content, and science fiction.

Writing wings:

Spaces dedicated for parties involved in writing, where visitors can talk to them and learn about their experiences and services closely.

Writing workshops:

Specialized workshops for young people from 15 to 35 years old, where a group of writers and creators train participants in an interactive manner to develop the basic concepts of writing in special topics. These topics include: – Writing science fiction stories- commercial/advertisment stories- musicals- articles.

Author’s Platform:

Art Squares

This is a space to unleash the creativity of young amateur artists as well as professionals in various art disciplines through interaction with the exhibition’s wings, which feature professional artists. Visitors can watch art being made live on the professional artist’s platform, where artists will display their creations, share their tools and inspire the audience. The Art Squares also offer specialized workshops in drawing characters, comics and other art techniques.

Professional Artist’s Wings:

These spaces are dedicated to a number of artists specializing in comic books, caricatures and expressionist art.

Art Workshops:

Special workshops for young men and women aged 15 to 35 conducted by a number of professional on topics such as:

Drawing characters with Arab features – drawing sketches and arranging elements on the page – the basics of ink cartoons – transforming a screen play into an illustrated story

Artist’s platform:

Here professional artists share their tools, display their creativity and create art live for visitors’ viewing pleasure.

Animation Factory

A space for animation and cartoon creators and professionals to share their passion for animation in an exhibition space. They will discuss their tools and techniques live on the animation platform. The Animation Factory also offers special workshops on cartoon content creation, the art of animation, dubbing and voice acting.

Animation Wings:

Designated spaces for animation producers including agencies and individuals to display their work and share their passion with visitors.

Animation Workshops:

Special training workshops for young men and women aged 15 to 35, in which trainees acquire the basics of cartoon animation and get to know the latest animation software through the following topics: – Animating a cartoon character – dubbing and voice-over – the stages of making a cartoon series – motion graphics.

Animation Platform:

Here creators will display their tools and share their passion with the audience and their experience in creating animated cartoons and voice dubbing.

Production Studio

This space gathers movie and Youtube directors and producers to share their expertise and experience with leading professionals in the exhibition wings, allowing the Studio visitors to watch directors talk about their experience on production platform. The Production Studio also offers training workshops in directing, photography and the requirements of long and short film-making.

Production Wings:

This space gathers entities and individuals specialized in producing and directing to share experience and network among themselves.

Production Workshops:

Special workshops for young men and women aged 15 to 35, on complementary topics to the story-making industry presented by a number of specialists in production and photography, including: – post-production – from the oral to the visual – the photographer’s eye – the movie industry.

Production Platform:

Here young people will talk about inspiration, plot-building, photography and professional directing.

Hakaya Youth

Visitors gather around a storyteller to enjoy stories and tales whose content is inspired by local and global heritage spanning a variety of topics:

Arab and Islamic history.

Local heritage.

Proverbs and sayings.

General knowledge.

Hakaya Market

Explore the world of stories, novels, drawing tools and animation and photography technology available for viewing and purchasing

Hakaya Tech

Exhibition of digital content and sophisticated devices for presenting and creating stories. This section contains everything related to devices, digital solutions and electronic applications that help in the creating and developing stories and presenting them in advanced and innovative ways.

The Theater

The Theater presents a variety of performances with meaningful, value-driven messages, which include:

performances by leading theater groups, including a selection of award-winning young Saudis who have performed worldwide.

Stories of the Marabous, in which a media journalist shares his experience living with the Marabous, their experience and emotions.

Projection of outstanding award-winning films written, produced or photographed by young Saudi creators.

Young Authors

The Young Authors event allows children aged 7 to 14 to use an application that helps them create a story, starting from the idea, through story-writing and drawing, up to the production of a publishable story, through a number of phases including:

Interactive training session

A coach inspires children to imagine their stories and introduces them to the basics of story-making.

Story-Making

Here the children create a short story by using the Young Authors app.

Instant publishing

Each child’s story is published electronically so that the child and his family get a printed or electronic version of the story.

Hakaya Professional Courses

These morning sessions are cumulative over the six days of the festival. These courses constitute complete programs, granting young men and women qualifications in the main fields of the festival: Writing, drawing, animation, and production. Advance registration is required for admission to these courses in order to select talented amateur individuals passionate about these fields.

Creating short animated films

Course duration is 5days

From 10 am to 12:30 pm.

Open to men and women

Course topics:

– An overview of animation, short films and designing characters. – The importance of the Story Board in creating films in general and animation in particular. – A glimpse at acting, sound recording and its importance in giving the characters their own personality.

Introducing 3D animated films

Course duration is 5days

From 10 am to 12:30 pm.

Open to men only

Course topics:

-Introduction to Maya software and its main functions. – Building models. – Animation basics. – Lighting. – Producing the work

Disclaimer

Registration and fulfillment of conditions do not mean nomination for participation. Suitable candidates will be selected to participate according to specific criteria related to their experience, potential, and relevancy to the nature of the workshop. If nominated, candidates will be contacted via email. A nomination is deemed null and void if no response is given to the email within 24 hours.